Social media plays a major role in the marketing campaigns of many businesses. This is why it is very important to ensure that your website integrates well with social media. Social media will attract more traffic to your site, enhance your search engine ranking and eventually boost sales.
Here are some of the ways you can integrate social media into your design:
1. Social login
Many websites require visitors to create a new account by submitting an email address. Many people find this process too long and therefore simply leave without creating an account. The good news is that you can give your prospects and customers the option of logging in via their social media accounts. Enabling social login will enhance your visitors’ user experience, thus resulting in a higher registration rate.
2. Instagram gallery
You could consider integrating your website with Instagram to share relevant photos with your visitors. Content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress come with free plugins which make it easy for you to embed Instagram photos on your site. These could be photos of your products, team members or recent events. Sharing such content allows you to make a stronger connection with your customers, and attract even more followers in the process. You could even consider hiring an Instagram influencer to help promote your brand.
3. Follow and share buttons
Social share buttons make it easy for visitors to share your content, thus enabling you to reach a larger audience. Social follow buttons, on the other hand, give you the opportunity of attracting more followers. However, this does not mean that you have to add buttons for every social media network. Only focus on the ones that are commonly used by your audience. When it comes to positioning, it would be advisable to place your social media buttons on the side of your page, or at the bottom or top.
4. Social proof
Social proof is a very powerful way of boosting the credibility of your brand. Adding social proof to your site will help build trust with your customers and prospects, and eventually result in more conversions and sales. A good example of social proof is the Facebook ‘Like Box’ which you can embed on your website. This feature allows visitors to like your page without leaving your website. The more likes your page has, the more people are likely to consider your brand or product legitimate.
5. Social video
Most social media networks come with tools which allow users to create and share videos. The good news is that such videos can also be easily integrated on your website. Social videos can be very effective in sharing educational how-to videos, promoting your products or services, or simply sharing funny clips with your audience. Since many people would rather watch clips than read content, videos can significantly improve the level of engagement and conversions on your site.